Generally, electrical connectors include a dielectric housing mounting a plurality of conductive terminals for making electrical connection between a pair of electrical devices. For instance, one electrical connector may mate with another complementary electrical connector with the respective terminals thereof interengaging. Other electrical connectors may interconnect a conductor of an electrical wire to a circuit trace on a printed circuit board. Electrical connectors have been provided in a myriad of designs and constructions.
One type of electrical connector is commonly called an insulation displacement (IDT) connector which is equipped with insulation displacement terminals (IDT) for termination of insulated conductors. Such connectors have been called "solderless" connectors. In essence, elongated insulated conductors or wires are terminated within connector housings by forcing portions of the terminals through the outer insulation of the wires and into engagement with the central conductive cores of the wires. Such connectors normally require some form of means for holding the conductors or wires within the connector housing after termination with the terminals.
One type of conductor holding or retaining system provides a pair of flexible arms or wings which extend downwardly into a conductor-receiving groove to allow the conductor to be terminated as the conductor is moved past free ends of the wings into insulation displacement termination with the terminals. The wings prevent the conductor from backing out of its terminated position.
One problem with conductor holding or retaining systems as described above is that any given connector, including its flexible arms or wings, can be used with only one particular size or gauge of conductor. In other words, if the conductor is too small for the particular connector arrangement, there may not be sufficient force on the conductor to provide retention or strain relief to prevent movement of the conductor out of its terminated position or from damaging or adversely affecting the integrity of the mechanical and electrical connection between the terminal and the conductor. One solution to these problems has been to provide different sizes of connectors and/or different sizes of flexible retaining arms or wings for different sizes of conductors to be terminated in the connector. This solution significantly increases the cost of manufacturing such connectors by requiring an unduly large inventory of connector housings to accommodate a variety of conductor sizes.
The present invention is directed to solving these problems by providing an electrical connector with an improved conductor retention system that can accommodate a range of conductor sizes.